A very nice, and comprehensive, piece. To understand just how significant an accomplishment the victory of Washington's Continental forces at Trenton was, it has to be placed in the context of the severe battering they had taken over the past summer in a truly disastrous defense of New York and the continual string of defeats they had suffered there. After that, Howe's' fast moving troops under Cornwallis crossed the Hudson River almost undetected and maneuvered Washington's forces out of their only strong point in New Jersey (Fort Lee) and chased them clear across that colony, over the Delaware River, and into Pennsylvania.
That Washington somehow managed to hold his force together and cobble together that offensive move at Trenton was near-miraculous feat.
According to an article I read a couple of years ago, one interesting aspect of this raid was that it probably never would have been carried out against British troops. Attacking troops in a garrison in the middle of the night -- especially on Christmas night -- would have been considered a violation of the unwritten rules of "gentlemanly" warfare at the time.
Washington and his officers had no qualms about attacking the Hessians in this manner, though. Since these were mercenaries and were therefore not fighting for their own country, they were basically considered something along the lines of "unlawful enemy combatants" of sorts -- and were not extended the same courtesies and concessions as the British would have been given.